Posted on 11/28/2004 6:37:24 PM PST by Stellar Dendrite
Enzyme 'key' to stopping cancer Blocking a specific enzyme could be enough to check the spread of cancer in the human body, researchers say.
Researchers believe their work may lead to new life-saving cancer treatments and help cut the amount of chemotherapy required to treat cancer effectively.
The spread of cancer was blocked in six out of seven mice bred to not have the enzyme urokinase plasminogen activator, and the mice did not suffer without it.
The study, by Copenhagen University, is in the International Journal of Cancer.
Cancer cannot spread unless uPA is present, but the body does not need the enzyme to function normally.
This was confirmed by the latest research, which showed mice genetically modified to lack uPA did not suffer in any way from not having the enzyme.
Researcher Dr Morten Johnsen said: "This means that we should be able to block the enzyme and thereby check the spread of the cancer without causing the strong side-effects for the patients that we see with other forms of therapy today."
The next step is to develop a medication that works on mice. Only then will testing the medication on humans be considered.
Dr Torben Skovsgaard, a cancer specialist at Copenhagen's KAS Herlev Hospital, said the research looked "very promising".
He said: "If the clinical trials also show that it is possible to halt the spread of the tumour, then the research team has found the key to stopping the spread of cancer in the body, which is the cause of most of the deaths among cancer patients today."
Caution urged
Kate Law, head of clinical trials at Cancer Research UK, said: "It is true that death from cancer is largely a result of the cancer spreading from the original site to other parts of the body.
"Any therapy that prevented this spread would be a major step forward in the treatment of cancer.
"Long experience should, however, make us cautious in using encouraging laboratory research to begin talking about patient benefit.
"It takes many years for any finding in the laboratory to translate into patient benefit and results in the past have often been disappointing."
Aren't there any surprises anymore!
Just WOW!
Oh, don't be such a cynic!!! (grin)
This is the precursor article for the "Enzymes shown to have no effect.." article scheduled to come out in June, 2007.
Don't be so sure. I keep an eye on these issues, and it seems to me that real progress is being made.
I know. I'm just editorializing on 'health benefit' journalism - like last week's news that Vitamin E supplementation might not be so good for you after all. Oopsie!
I'm made skeptical by too many premature announcements.
There is very real progress being made in the realm of cancer treatment. However, any article describing a treatment with little or no side effects should be viewed with skepticism. Every drug has side effects...you just need to wait sometimes, because the side effects may not be immediately apparent.
This is true.
As with other new medical insights, the quickest application for the public will likely be through nutritional supplements. The hard part is getting good scientific and medical information that places new research in context and offers practical recommendations. From what I have seen, Life Extension Foundation seems to be the best at doing so.
We could sure use this now. A friend of ours has terminal cancer and her current therapy is not working.
marking
Prayers lifted for your friend....
Ms.B
This is great news and hopefully will show promise for humans very soon.
Walking on water soon to follow.
Will the patient have to take this drug for the remainder of their life?
Is this a cure or a treatment?
Cool stuff.
If they can find a way to block that it would be a blessing for everyone.
FYI
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